Photo by Kristoffer Paulsen, signed contributor The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Photos - Simon Holmes Court on his 40-hecatre farm in Daylesford, Victoria, 2021 Holmes Court grew up in Perth but he and his siblings were sent to Victoria to board at Geelong Grammar School, where he met his wife Katrina. He writes on news, business and leadership. Holmes Court also funded a series of ads supporting the Medevac bill. - FXB1285484 Simon Holmes Court photographed for Good Weekend around his his 40-hectare farm in Daylesford, Victoria, October 2021. Simon Holmes Court is founder of Climate 200, a group of more than 7,300 Australians working to help community-backed independent candidates contest Australian elections. Holmes Court on his farm in Daylesford. Why is the narrative that the election was won and lost in Queensland? But also because he felt like I was investing all of my resources and potential in something that was fascinating but not the main game. I think three of the 22 [candidates] have previously been part of Labor. The idea of communities owning their own power generators is not new in Australia, according to Lane, its just been forgotten. They were quite disappointed that that was our local areas first response to large-scale renewables development in the area, Lane says. You have to have a really good reason because its a default. Id messaged the Treasurers office earlier to let them know about my lunch date and on my way to the restaurant, Frydenberg called and bent my ear for 15 minutes, suggesting a few tough questions he would ask Holmes Court. Barriers to entry fell, the old gatekeepers lost their power. The thing about the independents is that the timing is right and the zeitgeist is ready for somebody, given that long-term disillusionment with mainstream politics, he says. Even a previous Liberal leader [John Hewson].". Post author By ; impossible burger font Post date July 1, 2022; southern california hunting dog training . Holmes Court was a driving force behind the country's first community-owned wind farm, Hepburn Wind. Give me two months to see the campaigns, because if you dont have the candidates and the campaigns, Simons funding is going to make no difference at all., Even the woman dubbed the godmother of the movement, Cathy McGowan, counsels caution. He was very impressed with the Hawke-Keating era and Australia becoming brave on the world stage., Ive always rallied against injustice. I was 35 and had never done any advocacy before.. The last time he willingly broke cover for a profile was a decade ago, announcing Australias first community-owned wind farm on Victorias Central Highlands, a project that arose from building the off-the-grid farm. Twitters been huge for me, he says. Says Lane: At Hepburn Wind we really want to play our role in helping our community reach zero net emissions., Energy positive: how Denmark's Sams island switched to zero carbon, Australia's regions already have an energy crisis and a climate of investment is the answer, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Renewables roadshow Daylesford: The windfarm is a symbol of our community, recently built Australias largest CBD solar farm. Both of them [Frydenberg and Energy Minister Angus Taylor] are a bit obsessed with me, Holmes Court offers. He is an energy analyst, clean technology investor, climate philanthropist, director of the Smart Energy Council and the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network, senior advisor to the Climate and Energy College at Melbourne University, and writes regularly about the transformation of Australias energy sector. . . Credit:Louise Kennerley, What turned disaffection into active resistance was Abbotts 2017 vote against marriage equality, despite Warringah having one of the countrys highest votes in favour, at 75 per cent. When [independent] Oliver Yates ran against him [in 2019] Frydenberg called his [former] bosses at Macquarie. I got involved accidently with the Kids off Nauru movement. This time around Holmes Court has gone much earlier, looking to support the climate-and-integrity-focused campaigns that have sprung up around the country in recent years, inspired by McGowan and Hainess success in Indi and Zali Steggalls 2019 unseating of former prime minister Tony Abbott in the northern Sydney seat of Warringah. For a number of years, people havent had to rely on each other, because the system was basically working. Your question to Simon on the AZ election results and Simon's response provided some in-depth knowledge on AZ and GA results. The majority of the investors are from the local region, something the cooperative has written into its rules. They are the latest manifestation of a longer-term trend that has the potential to redraw the political landscape: the rising minority vote. Its all still a work in progress. Kristoffer Paulsen. Simon Holmes Court's personal battle with Josh Frydenberg The son of Australia's first billionaire, the man who might help decide the next federal election, says having independents control. Its not tax-deductible, its uncomfortable for a lot of people to have their name out there. You could hold your nose and vote Labor or hold your nose and vote Liberal and for a lot of people it is difficult to hold their nose and vote Green., A politician is a very particular skill set and it is not mine and the last thing the parliament needs is another white, middle-aged male, says Holmes Court. How? I found myself standing on the footpath with a glass of wine, Holmes Court says. Its a big call for someone who culturally identifies as Liberal to cross, Lock says. Theres a global ranking of influencers on climate energy and Ive been at the top spot globally for half of the last two years. Theyve contributed just under $10m.. No one knows who their tribe is any more., Grassroots campaigner, Vote Tony Outs campaigner Mark Kelly. In the lead up to the 2019 Australian federal election, Climate200 raised nearly half a million dollars[6] for the campaign. Holmes Court was part of Kooyong200, Frydenbergs fundraising arm led by Citis head of investment banking, Tony Osmond, before he wrote an op-ed in The Guardian in 2018 supporting the closure of AGLs coal-fired Liddell power station and was dumped. Speaking a week ahead of the PMs mid-October negotiations with the Nationals, Katie Allen, who holds Melbournes affluent, marginal Liberal seat of Higgins, was confident the announcement would underline to voters the importance of working within the tent to effect change, as she and other moderates have done. And you read the Liberal Partys core tenets and think, Yeah, I believe in freedom, and I believe that individuals should be allowed to excel, and I believe in well-regulated markets. We got 300 people from 79 electorates. He sold Observant in 2017 because it had reached a point where the US was its natural home, he says. Im not just a follower any more. Ive had panicked calls from Liberal insiders asking that we lay off them, he says. 2019 was basically me hitting the phones 10 weeks before the election saying, Heres my strategy. Holmes Court is outlining the steps that have led him to where he now sits, in a polo shirt (Liberal-blue) and baseball cap, in a makeshift study in the off-the-grid farm where he and his wife of 24 years, Katrina, and their four children, aged 15 to 21, have spent much of Melbourne's world-beating lockdown. Hepburn Wind, near Daylesford in Central Victoria. [14] The following day Holmes Court was accused again of bullying by British climate activist Zion Lights. It kept the lake area electrified, says Lane. Holmes Court understands the size of the challenge, but he believes change is within reach, and he might help write a new political history for the country. simon holmes a court daylesforddaily news subscription phone number. Rather than deal with requests piecemeal, McGowan ran a two-day Zoom conference, How to Get Elected, in February. [7], In 2022 Holmes Court released 'The Big Teal' as part of Monash University Publishing's 'In The National Interest' series. Simon was a driving force behind Australias first community-owned wind farm, Hepburn Wind, near Daylesford in Central Victoria. Its an emergency and we have to be really strategic, he says. That is the real punchline of the proliferating activist independent groups. To meit will unleash a whole different way that were dealing with this, the medical researcher turned federal backbencher said. These days, Tink, 50, has her own campaign T-shirt in a colour theyve dubbed Tink Pink in North Sydney and a neat narrative arc that encompasses her first name (Tinks father, a great guy but not much on orthography, used Meadow Lea as the basis for the spelling on her birth certificate) and links her all the way back to the man they call the father of the independents, Ted Mack, who represented North Sydney at both state and federal level in the 1980s and 90s. Someone from the movement called me up and said, This is a moment., He started a fundraiser on Chuffed and it raised $117,000 in 48 hours. Simon owns a farm half way between Daylesford and Leonards Hill, the location of the two turbines erected in . His AIESEC experience led to networking the Asian offices of the then family-owned company John Holland, before completing an artificial intelligence and cognitive science degree at Americas Ivy League Dartmouth College. Speaking via Zoom from his 40-hectare farm in Daylesford, Victoria, Holmes Court holds up the digit that melted like a candle almost half a century ago to show the results of a second, successful skin graft. It helped support the campaigns of Zali Steggall, Helen Haines and Rebekha Sharkie. But there are no more strings attached. The official audio for 'Tbilisi Airport' by Simon Goff & Katie Melua. Help using this website - Accessibility statement. [19] They have four children together.[20]. In a sense its just another of the classic disruptive moments that started with the music industry 20 years ago, when new tech meant artists and audiences alike could suddenly bypass the major-label machine. Holmes a Court describes Observant as his ''day job'', although getting the wind farm up and running has consumed much of his energy in the past couple of years. Simon is the founder of Climate 200, a group of more than 7,300 Australians working to help community-backed independent candidates contest the next federal election. He has also been accused of running a party of white privilege for rejecting more diverse candidates such as Kyinzom Dhongdue, a refugee and former MP in the Dalai Lamas Tibetan parliament in exile. Holmes Court, 49, also says he was thrown out of a meet the candidate event at the Geebung Polo Club with Frydenberg before the 2019 election. Simon has been a pioneering force in the Australian community power movement as the founding chair of Hepburn . By the time he had turned 18, his fascination with powers source had been matched by a fascination with how it worked. The government lost a vote on their own bill for the first time in 90 years. [5] They also live in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn. About Simon. Why arent you running for politics? I ask. I think Indi kicked off their first campaign at about 800. The Opera House said, Absolutely no way, so I had this money on trust that was not mine. Yes, Angus grew up on a farm and has farming investments but anyway. A few heads turn when a photographer arrives to take some photos as we eat. At the University of Western Australia, he neglected an old-school law degree for student politics via the French-founded International Association of Students in Economics and Commerce (AIESEC), which he describes as a bit like a model UN that introduced students to fundraising, running events and plenaries and constitutions and stuff and for which he spent a year introducing networking technology, such as email. People are organising, getting together and having dozens of meetings in a month that could never have happened without a party structure.. As you can imagine, I had a fairly bizarreupbringing, with politicians of the day around the dinner table, he says. In March this year, he and another member launched the sharper Vote Angus Out (VAO) group, following the advice of Steggalls team that Vote Tony Outs T-shirt-led social media had been a major driver in Warringah. It will be the greatest piece of philanthropy we could do.. A small project, only two turbines but it generates as much power as the town uses in a year. Kooyong 200 and feud with Josh Frydenberg, "Economic, Education, Jobs and Skills Committee: Inquiry into community energy projects", "Simon Holmes Court's personal battle with Josh Frydenberg", "Simon Holmes Court: 'If it works, the payoff will be enormous', "Clean, green and rich: Wealthy donors bankrolling politicians who support climate action", "Media Watch Dog: Simon Holmes Court's Q+A takeover", "Holmes a Court sues media outlets, mulls defamation suit against Sharma over Nazi reference", "Meaning of 'crumb maiden' smear used against Liberal Senator explored", "Climate 200 founder is 'Palmer of left': Mundine", "Climate 200 founder could benefit from investments if independents are elected", "Holmes Court attempting 'takeover': Falinski", "Election 2022: Simon Holmes a Court 'bullied me online', says UK activist", "Birmingham calls on Holmes a Court to apologise for confrontation", "Democracy? He began an arts/law degree at the University of Western Australia, where he was involved in student politics, but withdrew after a few years. . Ive been obsessed with energy for a very long time, he says, almost wearily. I want it to be six to 10 times bigger and more effective, he says of C200s campaign for the next federal election, due by the end of May. And as the family goes about lockdown, Holmes Court wide-eyed and fresh-faced, more like a grey-haired schoolkid than a 49-year-old tech entrepreneur explains how, and why, he has fashioned a whole new key to stick into the biggest power socket in Australia, federal politics. After the bust, he returned to Australia, applying his software and product development skills to water issues at the eight NT cattle stations then owned by his family. More recently, his work with one of NSWs biggest solar installers brought Angus Taylor to his attention in the sprawling neighbouring electorate of Hume. The incumbents, Zali [Steggall], Helen [Haines], Rebekha [Sharkie] and Andrew Wilkie, are all doing a great job and I hope they remain. The son of Australias first billionaire has become the face of a burgeoning independents movement some say heralds a tectonic shift in our political landscape. It galvanised a town around climate action, he says. Your lead-in to the question expressing your thoughts seemed to cause Simon to merely agree with you rather than going into more detail on his thoughts. I told her that I wouldnt tell anyone its a dead certainty well pull this off. I was hopeful, Tink says. I dont even know if its a 50/50. Or setting up a primitive internet communication system in our basement when he was 10 or 11; Robert and I always thought hed be an engineer.. And then we got COVID, and COVID absolutely fundamentally showed us that you need your community around you.. He was a swinging voter. Ltd. attempting to improve the efficiency of their eight cattle stations in the Northern Territory. In the first of a series about Australian communities building renewable energy projects, we look at how Victorias Hepburn Shire overcame local opposition to deliver a new homegrown, community-owned generator. tesla model s hidden menu access code. He also insists that there is no connection between us or Labor and the Greens or GetUp. They didnt really have friends, my dad particularly. Its not tax-deductible, its uncomfortable for a lot of people to have their name out there. Holmes Court was born in May 1972, the son of South African-born Australian businessman Robert Holmes Court (who became Australia's first billionaire), and businesswoman (and chairperson of Heytesbury Pty Ltd), Janet Holmes Court. I wanted people to see I was just a normal guy and I wanted to talk to them about why they were joining. Drawing on his marketing background, Kelly did multiple surveys of his 6000-strong VTO database during its life.Ninety-five per cent of them had never done anything politically before, he says. They tell us weve reduced emissions by 20 per cent. Simon Holmes Court (born 30 May 1972) is an Australian entrepreneur, cleantech investor, climate philanthropist and convenor of Climate 200. . What the voting data is saying is when one-quarter of voters arent voting for the majors, the political system itself adjusts.. The best of Good Weekend delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Holmes Court insists his journey into political activism makes sense when you map out the dot points. But if it does work, the payoff for Australia will be enormous. This infuriated ex-chairman of the Liberal's Indigenous Advisory Council, Nyunggai Warren Mundine who tweeted Holmes Court was a "filthy rich man trying to influence the election via the All White Climate 200 party". Paul Howden is one of them. Three weeks later, her candidacy was announced. The Holmes a Court family name is well known in Australian business circles but Simon's involvement in Hepburn Wind is that of a local and his focus is community-owned enterprise. Im not just a follower any more. How much wind the governments announcement of its net zero 2050 target takes out of the sails of this very recently coordinated movement is also being decided in real time. There was a savage culture of physical abuse culture and as we found out in the Royal Commission, a massive sexual abuse problem. Minor parties and the independent share of the vote had been increasing for a decade, reaching its highest point since World War II in 2016, when more than a quarter of Australians voted for something other than the LNP, ALP or Greens in the Senate, and more than an eighth in the House of Representatives. Simon Holmes Court (born 30 May 1972) is an Australian businessman and political activist. Its a really fundamental human thing: the main parties represent stability and the status quo, and people are feeling so uncertain at the moment. Not that it ever drove her all the way to apostasy. Holmes Court addressing the National Press Club earlier this year. Its what the third of four children to Australias first billionaire, Robert Holmes Court, and his former science teacher wife, Janet, had always done. If youre a socially progressive, fiscally conservative voter in Kooyong where do you park your vote? ABC TV - 7.30 Report by Cheryl Hall. Less than 24 hours later I got an email from Kooyong 200 saying my membership had been rejected and two years of membership fees and a donation had been returned to my credit card, he says. They both felt that if something was wrong you fixed it, and you dont complain, you just made it happen.. C200 is also considering funding independents in Sydneys Hume, held by the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor; and in Victoria, in the seats of Goldstein (held by Tim Wilson), Flinders (Health Minister Greg Hunt) and Kooyong (Frydenberg). It will be the greatest piece of philanthropy we could do.Credit:Kristoffer Paulsen. My parents never saw themselves as partisan. In recent years he has written opinion pieces on climate for The Guardian, emerging occasionally to talk about energy transition. To drink, he asks for green tea and I join him. Voices Of, Voices For and non-aligned groups. You dont send John Howard somewhere you dont need him. Climate change. Its my responsibility to do something., Murfitt says the group now has a candidate who will be announced next month, elected by popular vote from four contenders after their presentations at two Zoom town halls. Theres only been three times the minor party vote has gone over 25 per cent since federation, he says, referring to 1901, when the recently formed Labor Party won seats; the Lang Labor split during the Great Depression; and the events that led to Robert Menzies founding the Liberal Party in 1944. Hepburn Wind began construction in 2010 and started selling power in 2011. Despite the umbrage, the two have quite a history. We joked at the start about calling it Climate 2000, but thats already happened, Holmes Court says. Matt Murfitt is targeting Angus Taylor, Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. It is, says former Grattan Institute chief executive John Daley, a professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, an anyone-other-than movement. Political and corporate researcher Tony Mitchelmore has traced the electorates growing disaffection via qualitative surveying of marginal voters over recent years. publics scepticism about Holmes Courts motives: as he did at the National Press Club earlier this year. Im not feeling a mood for change. (As she speaks, though, at least one potentially noteworthy Liberal-aligned candidate is being sounded out to run against her. In the lead up to 2022 election, Holmes Court began to get more press coverage, which helped to raise the profile of Climate 200. Through a mutual friend, Kelly ended up spending New Years Eve with Steggall and her husband, Tim, both of whom peppered him with questions. Im hyperaware of the privilege Ive been given, he says. He loved working, and he worked seven days a week. Steggall bought VTO T-shirts for her husband and parents two days before Christmas 2018. It was a simple reform, it didnt come from Labor, it came from the cross-bench, and it was put to me that the cross-bench is often the conscience of parliament and too often the backbone. Freshly engaged, looking to make a difference, they tend to have reached a point in their lives and careers where they have options. And the group had overwhelming local support. I met with him quite a few times, but I havent spoken to him since we had a run-in about four years ago. We dont start campaigns, we dont choose candidates, campaigns come to us and if the campaign matches our mandate, the seat is winnable and the fundamentals check out we will donate to them., If anything we are like a political venture capitalist, your readers would understand, he says. She says that will be enough to power about eight to 12 houses not a huge amount, but its an easy win. Frydenberg has called Holmes Court gutless for founding the Climate200 fund, which has raised more than $9 million (he is at pains to say that is from more than 9000 donors) to fund 22 election candidates, mostly in inner-city Liberal seats, but not putting his own hand up to run for political office. It seems almost as personal for Holmes Court when it comes to Taylor, with whom he had a disagreement at a Politics at the Pub event in Taylors home town of Goulburn, NSW. What strings have I got? It is a very, very important pivot pointhaving seen us go through the cultural energy wars, and seen three prime ministers change because of that pressureits a pretty significant step., First-term Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, whos been the governments point man on the Voices Of, Voices For and non-aligned groups, including asking the Australian Electoral Commission to ensure they comply with funding-disclosure requirements reinforces this point. And he rejects a report by Peta Credlin on Sky News that said GetUp are behind the Climate200 fund. Since then, businesswoman Susan Benedyka and constitutional lawyer Kim Rubenstein have announced campaigns for senate seats in Victoria and the ACT respectively, and the former deputy mayor of Greater Shepparton Rob Priestly has announced hell run against Nationals MP Damian Drum for the Victorian seat of Nicholls. From the fertile spud-growing country of Hepburn Shire, 90km northwest of Melbourne, has sprung what many hope will become a revolution in renewable energy in Australia. These days, CIP holds the sort of regular online forums that have proliferated across the groups and candidates, on which Kelly, Phelps, Steggall, Haines and McGowan regularly appear. However, the recently launched site zalihasfailed.com, targeting Zali Steggall in Warringah its homepage blaring Did you know, Steggall voted with Labor 64 per cent of the time below a drop-down menu inviting readers to Discover Zalis failures probably indicates the level of actual government concern. Najwitszej Maryi Panny Krlowej Polski > Bez kategorii > simon holmes a court daylesford 11 czerwca 2022 hillsville, va labor day flea market 2021 natural disasters after 2010 Its because the traditional base has been abandoned. He subsequently established Observant Pty Ltd as a company to develop remote water monitoring systems and other products. On Leonards Hill, just outside the town of Daylesford famed for its natural springs stand two wind turbines that not only power the local area, but have also added substantial power to the community-owned renewable energy movement in Australia. Hepburn Wind, near Daylesford in Central Victoria. Thats when Josh turned on me, I think, he says. Frydenberg in turn questions why, in 2020, Holmes Court turned up daily to a court case seeking to challenge Frydenbergs citizenship (the case was dismissed) and what that says about him. Simon Holmes Court began his career as a software engineer in Silicon Valley during the first dotcom wave, then spent over a decade in precision farm water management. I originally went to see him as a constituent, because I decided he would be around for a long time.
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